Review of “Iron Sunrise” by Charles Stross
A post-singularity sci-fi thriller featuring secret agents, transhumanist mind-control-Nazis and interstellar antimatter-bombers
“Iron Sunrise” is part II of the duology which started with “Singularity Sky” which I’ve reviewed earlier on this blog, hence the review bellow contains some light spoilers, both for “Singularity Sky” and for “Iron Sunrise”.
Charles Stross is at it again with another post-singularity thriller featuring special agent Rachel Mansour in a high tech transhumanist universe. Decades ago a casuality violating device of unknown origins destroyed the planet of New Moscow, by inducing a chain reaction in its star which caused it to explode outwards, disintegrating most life in the solar system. Unbeknownst to most, New Moscow’s military deterrent, interstellar, sub-lightspeed antimatter bombers with planet destroying capabilities, were launched against the presumed culprit, the authoritarian planet New Dresden. Now the dooms-day clock is ticking and there’s no way to evacuate New Dresden’s 800 million inhabitants in time. The only people who possess the codes to stop the bombers are the surviving ambassadors of New Moscow, but someone is hunting them down one by one. As the ambassadors start to die off in sordid clown-related murders, it’s up to UN special agent Rachel Mansour, in all her bomb-defusing brilliance, to catch the serial killer and convince the remaining ambassadors to send the stop codes.
Of course this wouldn’t be a Charles Stross novel without absurd political radicals. This time they come in the form of the ReMastered, an interstellar organization of transhumanist mind-control-Nazis as well as a Dadaist and insane reenactor of Idi Amin, who somehow got hold of a nuclear bomb. The ReMastered view the god-like AI, known as the Eschaton, as hostile to human life and their main objective is to build a god-AI of their own to combat it. A god into which they’ll upload the minds of their chosen ones. To achieve this goal, they use subversive methods such as clandestine coups to grasp power over whole worlds. In addition to this they practice the classical Nazi traditions of concentration camps, war atrocities and eugenics, but they have a full array of post-singularity technology to enforce their hierarchies. Naturally the Eschaton has its own finger in the game. This time it uses the moody and difficult goth/alternative teenager Wednesday Shadowmist as its secret agent. Charles Stross also returns to his usual fetish and femdom tendencies, the man can’t write a book without some smut in it.
Paradoxically “Iron Sunrise” is both less a visionary and better crafted book than its prequel. The dramaturgic curve has improved and this time around Mr Stross didn’t fumble the ending away like he did in the last book. The language is somewhat less difficult to understand than it was in “Singularity sky” which makes for a smoother reading experience. Probably these differences arise because a large part of a “Singularity Sky” is set inside a technological singularity while “Iron Sunrise” remains firmly rooted in post-singularity events. I remained absorbed throughout most of the plot and it was truly a joy to read. The novel retains the comedic undertones of the prequel but it also contains darker and nastier elements; rape and atrocities. This dampens the punchline of the jokes for me. The characters are vivid and believable. In addition to the characters mentioned above there’s a bitter, mentally scarred warblogger by the name of Frank. Martin Springfield, the shy engineer and eschaton agent from the first book, also has a minor role as a supporting character. The ReMastered makes for excellent antagonists, the Nazi-villain cliché is refreshed with high-tech transhumanism.
“Iron Sunrise” gets 8.5 of 10 balloon animals. If you liked “Singularity Sky” you should definitely give this one a try.
